One of the places that you can see puffins in Scotland is on the island of Staffa which is north west of the Isle of Mull.
I was fortunate enough to be able to take a day trip out to see the puffins just before the adults we due to have left after the breeding season. I went with Turus Mara who organise many different boat trips to various islands.
The trip to Staffa involved a drive to Oban of just over an hour, followed by a ferry trip to the Isle of Mull, transport across Mull to a pier on the west coast opposite the Island of Ulva and then a boat trip to Staffa. It took quite a while!
The visit to Staffa was relatively short (just over an hour) which was just enough time to climb to the top of the cliff from the landing pier and then walk along the cliff top to where the puffins have their nesting site.
Puffins are fairly tolerant of human beings and when I arrived shortly after the first tourists from our boat, there were a lot of puffins still on the cliff top and I was able to get some pleasing photographs of the puffins. After a few minutes though, the puffins get disturbed by the large number of human visitors and they eventually decide to fly off to the sea. So, if you are wanting to see the puffins close up, I would strongly recommend that you hurry once the boat lands on the island, or you will miss the puffins.
The trip to see our Scottish puffins on Staffa was very rewarding and if you have time when visiting Fort William in summer, I strongly recommend a day trip to Staffa.
Â
Check our Things to Do page for more ideas about things to do and places to go when in the Highland
